Offshore Wind Journal

Statoil wins New York offshore wind lease

Irene Rummelhof: "Statoil plans to work closely with NYSERDA on studies for the project offshore New York"

Statoil has been declared the provisional winner of the US government’s wind lease sale for 79,350 acres offshore New York. The Norwegian company will now have the opportunity to explore the potential development of an offshore windfarm to provide New York City and Long Island with electricity.

Statoil submitted a winning bid of US$42,469,725 during the online offshore wind auction for the lease, which was held by the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil's executive vice president for new energy solutions, said: "We are excited to have submitted the most competitive bid in a highly attractive project, Statoil’s first offshore wind lease in the US. We now look forward to working with New York’s state agencies and contributing to New York meeting its future energy needs by applying our offshore experience and engineering expertise."

The lease comprises an area that could potentially accommodate more than 1 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind, with a phased development expected to start with 400-600 megawatts (MW). Statoil will next conduct studies to better understand the seabed conditions, the grid connection options and wind resources involved in the lease site.

“We will work closely with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on these studies and throughout the permitting process, and in connection with power offtake options,” said Mrs Rummelhoff.

The State of New York projects that offshore wind will be a significant part of the renewable energy generation needed to meet its Clean Energy Standard in 2030.